Jasper was exhausted. He didn't know why, but his and Damian's current states told him something was wrong.
They were both injured with their memories, both having received some rather serious damage seemingly out of nowhere.
Just a few minutes…or was it hours by now? He couldn't quite remember. They were following the last trails of the survivors, who had chosen to follow Prophet into the heart of the hellish forest.
They had seemingly crash landed, much as they had, and wandered deep into the woods to escape some looming catastrophe that seemed to be hunting them down.
Strangely enough, its trail had stopped long before the survivors seemingly came this far into the woods.
He wondered if there was some type of predator lurking nearby, and as such, he took a step closer to Damian, who was unusually quiet during their travels.
The man who had looked healthy and strong just a short while ago now looked sickly and weak. It was a stark departure from what Jasper was used to seeing by this point.
The strange appearance of his companion and his strangely stoic attitude made Jasper feel like the man knew something he didn't. Or rather, they came to understand something more about the strangeness of their situation.
Jasper was about to say something before a sudden force pushed against him.
It took a moment for his senses to adjust as a strange weight suddenly lifted from his mind.
The fear and worries, even his unwillingness to discuss the current situation, all lifted as the fog around him was pushed away by an unseen force.
Instinctively, he readied himself for combat as he glanced at Damian to see what his companion made of the situation, as he shouted,
"What the hell is going on here, my good sir?"
However, as his eyes settled, now untainted by the fog, he found himself confused.
On his side, two of his companions now stood, both looking worse for wear.
One had his sword raised towards the imposter as he prepared to strike. Whilst the other was straining itself as he pushed against the fog with the might of his Awakened armour of the fifth tier. The broken chain coiled around his arm as it connected to the body of his mighty bow.
///
Damian didn't have time to explain the entire situation to Jasper, and with the creature of the fog now focusing its attention on them, they didn't have much time either.
It was taking far more essence than it should have to push away the fog, only solidifying Damian's theory about its true nature.
The strange Will permeating his body was enhancing the power of the enchantment, but even then, it was barely enough to keep it away.
Looking forward, Damian saw the Other flash, ready to decapitate him in one swift motion.
However, just as the blade made contact with his neck, the echo disappeared into a rain of sparks which harmlessly fluttered over his body as a single drop of blood rolled down his armour.
Jasper was staring at him with a mixture of confusion and suspicion as he looked out into the fog, which was slowly closing back in on them.
"I have a lot of questions, but I feel like now isn't the time to be asking them. What's the plan?"
Damian struggled against the oppressive force of the fog. The billowing creature slowly pushed against the barrier of force he projected, trying to enter to reclaim its prey.
Straining to keep this malignant force at bay, he looked to Jasper as he said,
"I need you to -a-ah fuck. I need you to grab me and run as fast as you can. You need to run us out of this fog, or else we die."
Jasper's eyes went wide as he dismissed his dagger back to the depths of his soul as he made his way over to Damian, grabbing the older man by the waist.
"No pressure then!"
A small grin found its way onto Jasper's face as he started to move. At first, it felt like he was carrying the weight of the world with him.
///
Every step made him feel as if he were being crushed by a mountain. Who knew carrying a man who was nearly three hundred pounds of pure muscle wearing a full suit of plate armour would be so heavy?
The terrible jokes to himself aside, he kept marching forward, and with every step he took, his burden felt less and less.
The marvellous power of his [Kinetic] attribute was the only reason he could accomplish such a feat.
The feedback loop it created for him in terms of sheer power was nearly unthinkable in the realm of awakened creatures, even for those of a greater class than himself.
Of course, it had its limits. He had discovered after overusing his awakened ability in the past that his body could only handle going so fast before it started to tear itself apart.
After just a few short moments of movement, he suddenly felt it, the surge of energy he gained when his body was empowered by the essence which slumbered within his soul.
This untapped reservoir, accessible to all others, awakened in him like a poison. So sweet that it almost made him feel like a god.
He knew he wasn't, of course, but he was closer to it than most others throughout history, and for each new shard he absorbed or rank he achieved, that sweetness only grew in temptation.
As he felt the sudden rush, he forced the essence to the base of his feet as he felt himself lurch forward at incredible speed, dragging Damian along for the ride.
Usually, he would have to be at least somewhat careful of his surroundings to make sure he didn't end up as a stain on the side of a rock, but that wasn't an issue this time.
With Damian pushing any obstacle out of the way, he could focus on the one thing that mattered the most, speed.
With every few steps, his body let out a thunderous roar, the ground shook underneath his power, and he would be damned if anything would get in his way.
He could see the area around the two of them shrink as time passed.
The time he had to evacuate them both to safety was quickly running out, which meant he had to push himself even harder.
Taking it up a gear and forcing his body to emit a near constant barrage of thunderous roars, he could feel his core draining at an alarming rate.
As well as that, the speed they were moving was ridiculous, and yet the fog seemed to stretch on endlessly.
Soon his muscles began to scream in pain, and his bones quaked under the strain he was putting them under. His body may be superhuman, but even it had its limits.
Soon, the area protecting them was barely enough to cover them both, and he could swear he was beginning to feel the cool wisps caressing his skin from time to time.
For fleeting moments, he felt like he should simply stop. There was no way a lonely beast like him could escape a creature like this. He was doomed to die someday. Why not make it now?
As these thoughts clouded his mind, he bit back, pushing them away as his mind became clearer and clearer as his speed pushed past his limits.
Jasper felt his muscles tearing and his bones shattering from his efforts, yet he continued to move, for if he didn't, the legacy he would leave behind would amount to a footnote in history.
That is not what he wanted in life, all he wished to do was make history remember his name, no matter the cost.
His body was on the verge of failure, his core was exhausted and pushed beyond anything he could have ever imagined before, and it was then that he saw it, light.
For the first time in so long, the light of day shone upon them. With one last push, he forced them into the light as the last wisps of fog pulled away, and they escaped its grasp. For a moment, he was relieved to be able to give his body a rest, but something was wrong.
He couldn't tell what at first until he looked down, just then he slowly looked up again with just enough time to say one word.
"Fuck"
As he and Damian plummeted to the ground, for they had run off the side of a cliff.
Crashing into the earth, they both felt their bodies shudder as they took in hoarse breaths.
A fall like that wouldn't kill and awaken, but it would surely make them easy prey to all those who tried to eat them.
As their vision began to fade, the last thing Jasper heard was the noise of a dozen or so feet, clad in heavy metal, stomping across the mud towards them.